To ensure that the vegetables grow nice and crisp and large again next year, the vegetable bed must be supplied with suitable soil. Heavy, loamy or clayey soil tends to become waterlogged and to crust over after rainfall. Therefore, prepare the vegetable beds for the next season in winter. It sounds strange, but it is ideal for a vegetable bed: stable manure. Whether it is manure from chickens, sheep or cattle, it is a valuable fertilizer because it is rich in nutrients. Small organisms feel very much at home here and help improve the soil. They loosen the soil, which makes it better aerated and better able to store water.
Preparing the vegetable bed with stable manure
To do this, dig over and loosen the areas for the vegetable bed thoroughly. Then dig rotted stable manure into the soil. Stable manure must never be applied directly to the bed, as it is broken down too quickly by soil bacteria and only provides nutrient humus. Therefore, first put the stable manure on the compost heap and let it rot down a little. The manure should even be left to mature here for at least six months and mixed and composted with organic material such as grass clippings, leaves or straw. During storage, the manure decomposes and germs die off.
Caution: Manure should only be applied to a vegetable bed every 3 years. The manure releases its nutrients over a period of 3 years, so it is most effective in the 1st year.
If you do not have stable manure available, you can also spread half-finished compost on the loosened beds.
Read also: Use coffee grounds or ash as fertilizer for flowers
Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
